Heath Ledger's final film may not see the light of day in the US, Entertainment Weekly reports.

Ledger was midway through shooting The Imaginarium Of Doctor Parnassus with Terry Gilliam when he died of an accidental drug overdose in January last year.

When the project was threatened with closure, Johnny Depp, Jude Law and Colin Farrell stepped in to play different versions of Ledger's character Tony.

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Despite securing distribution in the UK with Lionsgate, acquisitions executives in the US are reluctant to snap up the rights.

"The script isn't a slam dunk," said one Hollywood executive. "Having Heath in it is appealing. But I'm waiting to see the movie."

Dennis Davidson, a representative for the project, explained that director Gilliam will not screen the film to anyone until he has assembled a finished cut, "so that the distributors can see exactly what they're acquiring".

Gilliam said last year of Parnassus's lack of distribution: "I think people are going to be astonished when they see the film, and there will be a rush to want it. So I'm happy to wait. Nobody came forward at the right time - and now it's going to cost them."